The conflict on cannabis between states and the federal government will continue for some time, especially now because the stand taken by the Trump administration is uncertain. There have been mixed signals coming from the President-elect himself. During his campaigns, he expressed support for the cannabis reforms going on at the state level. However, his actions continue to worry cannabis entrepreneurs from different cannabis-friendly states. Trump’s choice of Senator Jefferson Sessions for the post of attorney general has send shockwaves to the cannabis industry. Trumps pledge to support states is a complete contrast to the position held by Sessions concerning cannabis. Senator Sessions has always been against cannabis and entrepreneurs fear that he may ask the Department of Justice to arrest those in the cannabis industry. In an effort to counteract any probable action of this nature, cannabis entrepreneurs are asking officials in Trump’s administration to leave them alone because they are creating jobs for the masses.

Cannabis businesses have continued to evolve over the years and weed users can now buy cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes in different states across America. However, the future of cannabis will be fully known when president-elect, Trump assumes office. The disparity in opinion between the incumbent and incoming administration is bleak. On his part, President Obama is convinced that cannabis should be treated the same way as alcohol in terms of how it is regulated. According to Sessions, Obama’s stand on cannabis use is a great failure. Trump on the other hand wants to create jobs and this looks like a strong point for cannabis entrepreneurs. The cannabis business is huge and hundreds of thousands in each weed-friendly state are benefiting from opportunities coming up in the industry. Marc Ross, a lecturer professor at the Hofstra School of Law believes that the cannabis industry is a growing multi-billion dollar industry in America. Ross, a “Business and Law of Cannabis ” lecturer leads the cannabis business practice at his own corporate law firm. With this in mind, entrepreneurs hope that the creation of jobs and collection of tax revenue will be factors that a president focused on building the economy would support. If not, then it would be best for a president of Trump’s caliber to just leave the cannabis business alone.

GreenWave Advisors, LLC led by their managing partner, Matt Karnes estimates that there will be tax revenues of about $777 million accruing from cannabis sales proceeds in California in 2018. This is believed to boost the economy with the state realizing the first gains on the sale of recreational cannabis. The only fear that may prevent this is Senator Sessions’ position should he try to prevent California from executing the legal recreational use of cannabis that was approved by voters. cannabis delivery services could thus be affected and hamper the much anticipated gains. Losing tax revenue is merely one of the probable negative impacts that reversing these laws could have as put forward by entrepreneurs in the weed industry.

The marketing and communications vice president of Db3 Corporation in Seattle, Mr. Patrick Devlin believes that any move to repeal the growing legal weed industry will give strength to the black market. Most importantly, the crime that will result from such a retrogressive effort will run out of control, according to Devlin from this organization trading cannabis-infused edibles such as tinctures, lozenges and so on. Apparently, the different states have shown that they can regulate the marijuana industry effectively. Therefore, the federal government should not have a problem with that. The COO at Medicine Man Technologies dealing with cannabis business consultancy in Denver, Mr. Brett Roper believes that the biggest risk to marijuana is the increasing uncertainty at the federal level especially from a perspective of policy. Some of the immediate challenges include the inability to address the banking issue, matters of safety that have emerged from an industry operated purely on cash terms and the inability to subtract business overheads from the federal taxes. These have been a major impediment to further development of weed businesses.

As it stands, the legal cannabis industry is already composed of small businesses that don’t have money or political power to voice out their concerns. There is also another worry from well-established pharmaceutical organizations that can influence DEA and FDA actions towards the weed industry only to bring confusion to the legal marijuana market. Those who are already trading medical cannabis anticipate that policy decisions will be founded on science instead of emotional prejudices. Ideally, procedures and guidelines in the future should be based on long-term scientific research that is assessed independently despite the administration in office. Marijuana reforms have come a long way and 2016 was really a defining moment for the herb. Will President-elect Trump overlook the many job opportunities coming up in the marijuana industry when he assumes office?

We are Job Creators Cannabis Entrepreneurs Tell the Incoming Trump Administration was last modified: September 18th, 2017 by Jake Methow